The invention relates to manufacturing articles, and in particular to manufacturing toothbrushes.
Toothbrushes generally include a toothbrush body that includes a handle portion and a head portion, and tufts of bristles located at or near the head portion.
Toothbrush bodies are generally made by injection molding machines. These toothbrush bodies often consist of plastic and include multiple components. The different components may differ in nature, color, texture, density and hardness. For example, toothbrush bodies may include a relatively hard plastic base component and a colored rubberized gripping component.
After the toothbrush bodies are manufactured they are automatically removed from the molding machine and deposited onto a cooling conveyor. The cooling conveyor transports the toothbrush bodies to a bin. The bodies are then manually transported to a bristle tufting machine where they receive tufts of bristles and are formed into toothbrushes.
The tufting operation generally involves manually grabbing handfuls of differently colored toothbrush bodies so as to provide a mixture of differently colored toothbrush bodies to a hopper. A conveyor removes the toothbrush bodies randomly from the hopper and orients the bodies so that the head portion of the body is available to receive the tufts of bristles from the bristle tufting machine. The bristle tufting machine automatically staples tufts of bristles into the head of each toothbrush body to form a toothbrush. The finished toothbrushes are automatically deposited into a tray which is manually transported to a packaging machine.
In one aspect, the invention features an apparatus for manufacturing toothbrushes that includes: (a) a molding unit for substantially simultaneously molding toothbrush bodies, (b) an element that removes toothbrush bodies from the molding unit, (c) a tufter for securing tufts of bristles to toothbrush bodies to form toothbrushes, and (d) a transport for automatically moving toothbrush bodies from the removal element to the tufter. Preferably the removal element is capable of removing toothbrush bodies form the molding unit in the form of an array and maintaining toothbrush bodies in the array. In one embodiment, the transport sequentially provides individual toothbrush bodies from an array to the tufter. In another embodiment, the transport includes an element that selects toothbrush bodies having different properties (e.g., colors), and the transport automatically moves selected toothbrush bodies to the tufter.
In one embodiment, the molding unit includes a first cavity defining a toothbrush body, a first injection unit in fluid communication with the first cavity, and a second injection unit also in fluid communication with the first cavity. In another embodiment, the molding unit further includes a second cavity defining a second toothbrush body, and a third cavity defining a third toothbrush body. The first injection unit is in fluid communication with the first cavity and the second cavity, and the second injection unit is in fluid communication with the first cavity and the third cavity. The injection units are capable of substantially simultaneously injecting a first molding compound having a first property into the second cavity to form a toothbrush body having a first property, injecting a second molding compound having a second property into the third cavity to form a toothbrush body having a second property, and injecting either the first or the second molding compound into the first cavity to form a toothbrush body having a property corresponding to the injected molding compound.
In other embodiments, the molding unit includes a first cavity defining a toothbrush body and a second cavity defining a toothbrush body, and the first injection unit is in fluid communication with the first cavity, and the second injection unit is in fluid communication with said second cavity. In preferred embodiments, the first cavity and the second cavity define substantially similar toothbrush bodies. In one embodiment, the injection units are capable of substantially simultaneously injecting a first molding compound into the first cavity, and injecting a second molding compound into the second cavity.
The transport preferably includes a first conveyor for moving toothbrush bodies from an array to the tufter; and a second conveyor for receiving the array from the removal element and moving the array to the first conveyor. In one embodiment, the element for removing and the transport are provided in the form of an automated mechanical transfer unit. In a preferred embodiment, the transport is capable of selecting toothbrush bodies to create an array of toothbrush bodies having different properties (e.g., colors).
In another embodiment, the apparatus further includes a packaging machine that packages individual toothbrushes, and a second transport for automatically moving toothbrushes from the tufter to the packaging machine. In one embodiment the first transport, the removal element, and the second transport are provided in the form of an automated mechanical transfer unit. In another embodiment, the apparatus further includes a second packaging machine for automatically packaging packaged toothbrushes into a second package such that the second package contains a plurality of toothbrushes having different properties (e.g., colors).
In another aspect, the invention features a process for forming toothbrushes having different properties. The process includes substantially simultaneously forming toothbrush bodies having different properties in one mold, automatically transporting the toothbrush bodies to a tufter, and securing tufts of bristles to the toothbrush bodies to form toothbrushes having different properties (e.g., colors). In one embodiment, the step of forming toothbrush bodies includes forming toothbrush bodies that are substantially similar in shape. In another embodiment, the process further includes automatically transporting the toothbrushes from the tufter to a packaging machine, and automatically packaging the toothbrushes. In other embodiments, the process further includes selecting toothbrush bodies (e.g., to create an array of differently colored toothbrush bodies) prior to automatically transporting the toothbrush bodies to a tufter.
In another aspect, the invention features an apparatus for manufacturing articles having different properties. The apparatus includes a molding unit for substantially simultaneously molding articles having different properties; an element that removes the articles from the mold cavities; a packaging machine for automatically packaging the articles; and a transport for automatically moving the articles from the removal element to the packaging machine.
In other aspects, the invention features a process for forming articles having different properties from a mold that includes cavities defining substantially similar articles. The process includes substantially simultaneously forming articles having different properties in the mold, automatically transporting the articles to a packaging machine, and packaging the articles to form packaged articles having different properties.
In one embodiment, the invention features an apparatus for manufacturing at least one article. The apparatus includes: a molding unit for molding an article where the molding unit includes a first cavity defining an article, a first injection unit in fluid communication with the first cavity, and a second injection unit also in fluid communication with the first cavity; an element that removes the article from the molding unit; a packaging machine for automatically packaging the article; and a transport for automatically moving the article from the removal element to the packaging machine.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9ctoothbrush bodyxe2x80x9d is intended to refer to any portion of the toothbrush body, e.g., the entire toothbrush body including the head portion and the handle portion; the head portion; the handle portion; portions of the head portion; and portions of the handle portion.
The invention permits the manufacture of articles (e.g., toothbrush bodies) having a predetermined variety of properties (e.g., different colors) from a single mold in a single molding cycle. This in turn allows control over the subsequent manufacture and packaging of toothbrushes such that single packages of multiple toothbrushes can be manufactured where each package contains a predetermined multiple of toothbrushes having different properties (e.g., a predetermined number of red, yellow or blue handled toothbrushes in a single package). The invention also permits the selection of a predetermined variety of articles to achieve an array of articles having a variety of properties. The present invention thus avoids the need for manual intervention or assistance in the mixing of toothbrushes to achieve a desired mixture of toothbrushes having different properties in a single package. The apparatus also provides control over the color mixture in each package of toothbrushes shipped to a customer.
The arrangement of the injection units in the molding unit also advantageously permits variation in injection timing which allows molding compounds having differing cure rates to be injected into mold cavities at different times so that cure is completed substantially simultaneously for each molding compound. This allows a single mold cycle to accommodate a variety of molding compounds.
The apparatus of the present invention is also capable of producing an ordered array of toothbrush bodies and maintaining the relative order of the toothbrush bodies throughout the manufacturing process. Maintenance of the ordered array also simultaneously maintains the orientation of the toothbrush bodies, which facilitates tufting and packaging processes.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments thereof, and from the claims.